Arizona silver belt., 1887-04-30
rar romnsrosn DnnoenAr sEr nIaur.
\ Few Facts Abeh, sI,e Fourteenth Leais-
 latarc of fntercst e tIs6 People
G,nnr. Arizona. Anril 21. 1s87

the Tombstone Democrat, of tho 10th
 instant, two of which, unsigned, are
 possibly productions of is proprietor,
 Hon, M Bracewell, and she third
 communicated by "Xe of Blsheo. One
 of these relates to the journals of the late legislature. It conveys the idea,
 without making an actual assertion
 to that effect, that journals were kept l,y the Fourteenth A little history, < such as can be upheld by the testimo- ! ny of every member, may not be in- appropriate at this juneture.
 ' It is, perhaps unnecessary to ex- plain that the minutes of a delibera- ! tive body are short entries of its pro- fceedings, from which the journals arc
 afterwards prepared and ip which the
 entries are made at greater length and the forms more distinctly pointed
 out. While the minutes are correct.
 ed on tho day following that of which
 they treat, the journals are exact cop lies of the minutes as corrected, with ont interIineatious, efasures or chang
 8s oi any kind, properly attested each day by the presiding officer, and chief clerk, thus practically obyiating all chances of alteration by evil minded persons after the final adjournment of that body In fact tho minutes bear tue same relation to the journals as an amended bill to same bill properly enggossed and enrolled
 The House possessed no journals, The Chief Clerk simply wrote up the
 minutes Tn the time and order of their occurrence, generally n pencil, and upon ordinary foolseap paper, These. showed numerous interlineatiops aud erasures and were 50 hastily trans scribed and abbreviated that it was often difisult to decipher the mean ing of the hierogIyphics. During the beginning of the term Alfred Stein acted as assistant to the Chief Clerk not as jonrhal clerk. He was paid by assess ments levied upon several mem bers, some of whom the Democrat uu- dertakes to critlcise. Did Mi Brace well contribute his quotag He cer- tainly understood ibe importance of well kept records Tho gentleman is the better informed as he was mem. Der Of | special committee appointed to examine the House minutes, shortly before the final adjournment, in com 'pany with Doran Of Pinal and the writer The committee after investi- gating the records If tAe arst five days of the session, finding 1t impossible to intelligently report upon the correct ness of the whole, owing to tue imper- feet system of keeping them. and to insufficient time, reported that they had acted upon tba first few days only, and believed them thus far, in accord anee with the proceedings, virtually disclaiming responsibility as to the correctness Of the balance, and finally asking to bsdischargsd. Tue commit tee found tle minutes, in dated rolls, pigeon-bolsd m a closet in which they were carelessly thrown Win MT. Braceweli deny tLese facts md inform his readera thatth legislative branch, of which he was a member, kept joar. uals?
 Nor was the gaunea better off in this respect It is true that tbe Chief Clerk Of that body, Mi, Driscoll, kept private journal for his own protse- ton in the event of dispute arising berealtet hlngiug upon tic accuracy .of his minutes, but they were not the property of tbe Council, having been completed after regular working haurs. They were never paid for nor even authorized That august body went so far as to Kill two Honse resolutions providing an extra clerk to keep the journals Your correspondent does not deny that Council members sub scfibed . smsl sum ior clerk hire, but their clerk was employed 3 very few days in the same capacity as Stein, . z simply assisting tha Chief Clerk in keeping tbe minutes and reading bills, gollA roUr What he had 10 do with I the jnuraals is more than l can fath- on. Perhaps hr Bracewell will explain.
 h replying to the Democrats see ,ond article, also iu the editorial col nmus, yourcorrespondent does 50 sim ply becauss he x made I target for the empty cayil Of persons who either do not thoroughly understand the matter they attempt to treat or cleo deliberately state what they know to be untrue,
 Speaking q the " notorious county division combination that did all tue harm n tue action of either body ofI the Legislature if any harm vas done, tho Democrat excitedly ex. claims: This combination with the astnte M Trippel q its head, sirtu. ally controlled tho legislation of the